Review: ‘On Scene: Emergency Response L.A. Gang Life Special’

Host: Dave Forman.

Host: Dave Forman.

Series targeting government agencies, “On Scene” offers a special that surveys, for the most part, the L.A. Sheriff’s Dept. and Calif. Highway Patrol. Included is the Gang Emergency Task Force, which has been put out of commission for lack of funds. The jumbled half-hour lacks continuity and zips through brief episodes about drive-by shootings or cops stopping suspicious individuals possibly involved in drugs. Clarity isn’t the spec’s strong suit.

Host Dave Forman explains each succeeding gang-related scene and includes overly familiar shots of the L.A. riots and Rodney King pleading for peace–though his plea’s cut off.

Viewers see two men stopped in their car because they look suspicious– nothing there–a heroin user questioned by a cop, deputies cruising through East L.A. talking with young people about gangs and tattoos and a sheriff’s car making a bust on a pair trading in marijuana.

The reason the production is so hodgepodge is, most likely, because it was “made during actual emergencies … then condensed and edited for broadcast. Certain segments may contain footage from several emergency responses …” Resultant program lacks suspense and definition.

Editing is choppy, and overall impresh is that the spec has much to say but hasn’t found the vocabulary.